Russia’s Putin Offers to Replace Patriots Owner’s Super Bowl Ring

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — President Vladimir Putin sought to lay to rest a controversy over a disputed gift of a $25,000 Super Bowl ring by offering New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft a fancier replacement.

Mr. Putin addressed the disagreement over the fist-sized trinket during a question-and-answer session at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, in the same city where in 2005 Mr. Kraft said the Russian president walked off with the ring, having mistaken it as a gift.

“I don’t remember whether Mr. Kraft gave the ring as a gift or not, but I remember some souvenirs were exchanged,” Mr. Putin said. “But if this is so important … I have a proposal. I will ask our specialists to make a replacement and make sure it will be an expensive thing, with rich metal .. so that it can be given from generation to generation of this team.”

“I hope this will resolve this complex international problem,” he said with a smirk.

Mr. Kraft says he had handed the ring to Mr. Putin to try on, but that the Russian president walked off with it. In the years following the episode, Mr. Kraft had claimed the 4.94 ring was a gift but changed his tune last week.

“I took out the ring and showed it to [Mr. Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’ ” Mr. Kraft said an awards dinner in New York, according to the New York Post.“I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

Mr. Putin’s spokesman challenged Mr. Kraft’s version of events saying he had no doubt the ring had been given as a gift. A spokesman for the Patriot’s owner said the tale was an old yarn that Mr. Kraft often told for laughs.